''Lowrider'' was an American

automobile A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, peopl ...

magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...

, focusing almost exclusively on the style known as a

lowrider A lowrider or low rider is a customized car with a lowered body that emerged among Mexican American youth in the 1940s. ''Lowrider'' also refers to the driver of the car and their participation in lowrider car clubs, which remain a part of Chi ...

. It first appeared in 1977, produced out of

San Jose, California San Jose, officially the City of San José ( ; ), is a cultural, commercial, and political center within Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area. With a city population of 997,368 and a metropolitan area population of 1.95 million, it is ...

, by a trio of

San Jose State San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the List of oldest schools in California, oldest public university on the West Coast of ...

students. In 2007, it was published out of

Anaheim, California Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, United States, part of the Greater Los Angeles area. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orang ...

, and part of the

Motor Trend Group Motor Trend Group, LLC (formerly known as Source Interlink Media and TEN: The Enthusiast Network) is a media company that specializes in enthusiast brands, such as ''Motor Trend'' and ''Hot Rod (magazine), Hot Rod''. Headquartered in El Segundo, ...

. The magazine was closed in December 2019. ''Lowrider'' focused on all aspects of lowrider culture, from cars to music and fashion. It also covered political and cultural issues related to

Chicanos Chicano (masculine form) or Chicana (feminine form) is an ethnic identity for Mexican Americans that emerged from the Chicano Movement. In the 1960s, ''Chicano'' was widely reclaimed among Hispanics in the building of a movement toward politic ...

, and funded an annual scholarship program.O'Dell, John
"Lowrider Magazine Riding Higher Than Ever,"
''Los Angeles Times'' (April 19, 2000). The magazine also released a series of music videos through their label,

Thump Records Thump Records is a record label specialized in various genres of music. Founded by Bill Walker and Al Lopez for $10,000 in 1990. In 1997 Bill Walker became its sole C.E.O. and President. History Thump's success was ignited by the popularity of i ...

. ''Lowrider''s monthly circulation was less than 56,000 at the end of 2011. In 2000, the magazine's monthly circulation was more than 200,000.

Publication history

''Lowrider'' was founded in the mid-1970s by

students Larry Gonzalez, Sonny Madrid, and David Nunez, "who sought to present a voice for the

Chicano Chicano (masculine form) or Chicana (feminine form) is an ethnic identity for Mexican Americans that emerged from the Chicano Movement. In the 1960s, ''Chicano'' was widely reclaimed among Hispanics in the building of a movement toward politic ...

community in the

Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose. The Association of Bay Area Governments ...

." The first issue debuted in January 1977. Essentially self-distributed, the magazine struggled until the November 1979 issue, when it began pairing bikini-clad women with lowriders on the cover each issue. An early artistic contributor to the magazine, David Holland, split with ''Lowrider'' to found his own '' Teen Angels Magazine'' in 1979, with the first issue published in 1981. In the early 1980s, ''Lowrider'' also featured cartoonist David Gonzales' monthly

comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...

''The Adventures of Hollywood'', which eventually morphed into the Homies line of toy figurines. Even so, after being taken over by its printer, ''Lowrider'' folded in December 1985. The magazine was revived in June 1988 by original co-founder Larry Gonzalez along with brothers Alberto and Lonnie Lopez. They moved the magazine's headquarters to

Fullerton, California Fullerton ( ) is a city located in northern Orange County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 143,617. Fullerton was founded in 1887. It secured the land on behalf of the Atchison, Topeka and S ...

(closer to the heart of lowrider culture), and began featuring customized trucks on the cover. As the magazine increased readership through the late 1980s and early '90s it spun off other titles, established a

merchandising Merchandising is any practice which contributes to the sale of Product (business), products ("merch" colloquially) to a retail consumer. At a retail in-store level, merchandising refers to displaying products that are for sale in a creative w ...

division, and began sponsoring multi-annual lowrider shows which took place all over the Western U.S. Lowrider Publishing Group was acquired in 1997 by automotive periodicals conglomerate McMullen Argus Publishing, which was itself acquired in 1999 by

PriMedia Primedia is a South African media group, headquartered in Sandton, Johannesburg. History Primedia was established in 1994 and its listing on the JSE Securities Exchange was completed in April 1995. Primedia remained listed on the JSE until 1 O ...

. In 2007, ''Lowrider'' was taken over by Source Interlink Media, now known as TEN: The Enthusiast Network.

Offshoots

* ''Roll Models'': The Lowrider Magazine YouTube Channel which features driver profiles * ''Lowrider Arte'': quarterly magazine featuring the art of lowrider culture * ''Lowrider Bicycle'': established 1993, it is marketed to preteens and young teens who customize their

bicycles A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike, push-bike or cycle, is a human-powered or motor-assisted, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, with two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A is called a cyclist, or bicyclist. ...

* ''Lowrider Euros'':

Volkswagen Volkswagen (VW; )English: , . is a German automotive industry, automobile manufacturer based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Established in 1937 by German Labour Front, The German Labour Front, it was revitalized into the global brand it ...

and

Toyota is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. Toyota is the List of manuf ...

lowriders; eventually merged into ''Lowrider Edge'' * ''Lowrider Truck'': lowrider pickups; eventually merged into ''Lowrider Edge'' * ''Lowrider Japan'': Tokyo-based Japanese-language version, published under license * ''Lowrider Edge'': "New Age Custom" lowrider cars, bikes, and trucks''Lowrider Edge'' website
(). Accessed Jan. 2, 2014.

References

External links

* {{Motor Trend Group Automobile magazines published in the United States Defunct magazines published in the United States Magazines disestablished in 2019 Magazines established in 1976 Magazines published in California Monthly magazines published in the United States Motor Trend Group